Wade: County Dems refute Babeu letter to Obama

By Henry Wade

January 29, 2013 - 11:28 am

Henry Wade, chairman Pinal County Democratic Party

On Friday, Jan. 25, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu sent a letter to President Barack Obama as his response to gun control efforts by the president and others around the county. In his letter, he suggested that not only would he not follow the orders of the president of the United States but that he would indeed “push for legislation which would make it a crime for any federal law enforcement officer to infringe upon any Constitutional rights of the citizens I am sworn to protect.”

As one of those citizens in the county he works in, I respectfully submit that I need him to continue to concentrate on response times and arresting bad guys and gals in the county he works in. In other words, leave the legislation to the legislators.

As a 20-year (active) veteran of the U.S. military, I was always under the impression that if I refused an order of an officer above me, I might be subject to a charge of treason. The fact that a majority of Americans have “placed their sacred trust” in our duly elected commander in chief seems to me to trump any local sheriff, no matter how much of a king he might believe he is.

It is noteworthy that Sheriff Babeu always aligns himself with someone else in the course of his activities. For instance, during the first presidential election, he was fond of appearing with then-candidate Sen. John McCain touting the need to “complete the danged fence.”

Next, during this election cycle, it was the “law and order ream” of Babeu and Lando Voyles. And now it is Babeu and State Sen. Rich Crandall, R-Mesa, on the crusade for anti-gun control rhetoric masquerading as proposed legislation. The fact is he once pulled away from the School Resource Officer program, only to now sing its praises is disingenuous as a minimum.

I first met, then-citizen Babeu in 2008 and was immediately struck by his drive and ambition to rise to higher political heights and even asked him once, “How long do you plan to be sheriff?”

I guess the true answer was given when he decided to run for Congress last year. Unfortunately as we now know, those plans were waylaid.

However, not to worry since the voters appear to have forgiven him for any perceived or real indiscretions, the sheriff will have plenty of time to campaign for the House, Senate, governor or even president once his tour of duty with Pinal County is over. I just wish he would please stop doing it under the disguise of supporting the citizens of Pinal County.

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- Maricopa resident Henry Wade is chairman of the Pinal County Democratic Party.